Erik Lensherr Has a Right to His Magic Helmet, or, In Which I Write XMFC Meta.
There’s a discussion going around Tumblr at the moment re: Erik And His Helmet, but I kind of hate posting long rants on there so I’m just going to do it here and link, because I am, as we know, a lazy fuck. So. This movie makes me feel ALL THE FEELINGS, but for now I am going to attempt and explain my thoughts/views on Erik Lensherr and his fancy helmet and the issue of trust between him and Charles.
The way I see it is this: Erik has every right to protect himself with the use of his magic helmet. There have been discussions saying that him putting on the helmet and thereby blocking out Charles was the cause of the Epic Breakup and that everything is Erik’s fault. Which, to a point, I suppose it was. But I certainly don’t think Erik’s actions were unjustified or that Charles didn’t cause his fair share of problems.
So, let’s talk about Charles’s background before I get into Erik’s. Charles was born with a mutation that potentially allows him to do almost anything. He can manipulate everyone around him, he can literally shut down a person’s entire existence, if he wanted. I would never suggest that he WOULD, because anyone who’s paying attention to Charles’s character knows that he wouldn’t. But he COULD and that’s important. I know that this movie, and the original movies, push the Mutant And Proud logic, and of course I agree. These people shouldn’t have to hide and they shouldn’t have to register themselves and they shouldn’t have to be ashamed. But the fact of the matter is, of course humans are going to be afraid of them. Especially Charles. They don’t know him, they don’t know his motives or his reasoning, but they know what he can do, and of course that would terrify a person.
Charles’s mutation is literally one of the most frightening mutations to humans, and with good reason. He has the ability to basically take over the world and do whatever he wants. He’s grown up proud of his mutation, proud of what he can do and wanting to learn more. He’s always had support from Raven and been able to use his gifts publicly whether people know it or not. There’s a LOT of talk about Charles and his morals and how he would never read a person’s mind without their permission, but unless we’re referring to the Satellite Dish of UST, this isn’t ever seen. The first time we see grown up Charles, he’s reading a girl’s mind to find out her drink order and immediately give himself an advantage. Then, he reads Moira’s mind to access her knowledge of other mutants before she gives anything remotely resembling permission. He freezes her colleague and talks in her head, presumably with access to her mind, again without permission. And then, the first time he meets Erik, the first thing he does is read his mind. He finds out his name, and by the “I know what this means to you” quote, we can assume he’s read enough to know about Shaw and Erik’s history. Then we go further into even more morally awkward areas like when they're being taken to the ~X Facility~ or whatever. There's the CIA guy, I forget his name but he's played by the guy who plays Oliver Babish in West Wing, so I'm calling him Oliver. ANYWAY, Oliver is all super impressed with Charles's mutation and is all I LOVE MUTANTS, but as soon as he tells them he can't take them off site, Charles again uses his mutation to LITERALLY MAKE THE GUY GET IN THE CAR. It's meant for a bit of comedy, and sure, it's light-hearted fun, but when you think about it, Charles is using his abilities to take away someone's free will. This is more than an invasion of privacy now, this is Charles using his powers without thinking of what someone else might want. It's not a "magic trick", it's complete and utter manipulation of a person.
What I’m getting at here is that Charles may have all these ideals about the preservation of privacy (or so fandom and fic likes to assume) but when it comes down to it, he doesn’t hesitate before he uses his mutation to his advantage. No one has ever stopped him or told him not to, except, apparently, for Raven, which is a whole other bag of potatoes that I can’t get into right now or I’ll never stop.
NOW WE CAN TALK ABOUT ERIK. At his roots, Erik is a holocaust survivor and further than that, was blatantly used by Shaw for experimentation and abuse of his powers. Straight off the bat, Erik’s been dealing with mistrust, with people taking advantage of him, with people using him to their own ends, with people invading his privacy and his basic human rights. For a long time, this is all Erik knows. As an adult, his primary goal is revenge. He’s spent his life refusing to let anyone get close to him - and I’m using movie canon here guys, not the comics, so I’m not getting into Magda. So movie canon basically suggests Erik has spent years hunting down Shaw and nazi killing and generally being a bamf to James Bond music. He’s never had to let anyone in, he’s never learned to trust, he’s never learned friendship.
Then, Charles dives into the ocean, hugs him, reads his mind, and tells him he’s not alone. Already, we’re looking at things that could quite possibly be overwhelming for someone in Erik’s situation. He’s gone from an incredibly private man who’s never had anyone to confide in, to someone coming in and reading his mind and his most private thoughts within seconds of meeting him.
At this point, I commend Erik rather than condemning him. In my opinion, he deals with all of this incredibly well. There’s nothing to say he trusts Charles implicitly, but he decides to stay without knowing much about Charles or his CIA mission, and he does so knowing what Charles can do, and knowing that Charles has already read his mind. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that he already starts to latch on to Charles as someone he thinks he can trust, someone he thinks he could be friends with. Which is LEAPS AND BOUNDS for him, people, come on! This is Erik Lensherr, King of Brooding, and he’s letting a little British telepath get into his head.
Now, we spend roughly two hours watching Erik and Charles become BFFs, Brothers in Arms and/or Big Gay Lovers, depending on your views. Even apart from Charles, Erik does his best to let the children in, teach them, train them, respect them. This is all through a skewed view of Mutants Over Humans, I suppose you could argue, but at the same time it’s not like he’s kicking Moira out of the house. There’s nothing to suggest anything other than civility between him and Moira, so it’s not entirely a Mutant VS the World view YET.
And then we can get down to the crunch: Erik finds the man he’s spent his whole life looking for, acquires a nifty helmet, and kills him. Like I said, it’s been suggested that this means Erik doesn’t trust Charles and that Erik betrayed him. Which I just can’t get behind. Like I’ve said, when it comes to Charles, who’s to say you could ever 100% guarantee that your choices are your own. Anyone would be on edge around him, no matter how groovy he is. To say that Erik doesn’t trust Charles at all is ridiculous to me, because he spends an entire movie sans helmet, trusting Charles not to do anything he shouldn’t, and going as far as letting Charles into his head to access his most private memories. If he didn’t trust Charles, knowing Erik’s background and his personality, he would NEVER have allowed that.
When it comes down to it, they haven’t known each other very long. I’m not entirely sure how long the movie is supposed to span, but it can’t be more than a couple of months, tops. In just a short while, Erik is apparently supposed to lose years of wariness and mistrust for other people because of all things, a TELEPATH shows up. It’s just unrealistic. Erik’s not going to abandon a lifetime of ideals in a minute because Charles has pretty blue eyes. Erik is flawed to all hell, yes, but that doesn’t mean he should be blamed for everything ever. Finally, he has a shot at killing the man who Erik sees as having ruined his life. His entire life has led up to this moment, and while I don’t agree with it, and the rest of the audience may not agree with it, this is what Erik wants. Because he is a well written character with flaws, just like Charles.
I think he has every right to put the helmet on. I think, no matter how much he trusts Charles, this is something that’s incredibly important to him, this is something that’s shaped his entire life, and Charles has a Really Powerful Mutation. Erik already knows Charles doesn’t want him to do it, and while my head canon is that Charles would let him regardless of the helmet, Erik doesn’t know that. The helmet is his way of establishing control, of giving himself a choice for the first time in his life. I’m not saying he HAD to kill Shaw or that he has no choices in life ever because of course he does. But again, this is Erik Lensherr, and that’s how he sees it. The helmet is about taking control of his life again, taking all of these things that he had no control over and shutting them down. It’s about making his own choices, deciding his own fate. And I apologise, but Charles has no right to tell him no. Charles has never been told no. Erik has been told no again, and again, and again.
It’s not about Erik not trusting Charles, and Erik isn’t 100% to blame for everything that happened on Breakup Beach. They both have flaws and neither of them do or say the right thing all of the time. Their entire relationship is a huge fucking tragedy because neither of them are perfect and they both make mistakes and unfortunately, when you’re mutants trying to save the world, their mistakes have pretty huge consequences.
I promise I’m done now, you may return to your regularly scheduled capslock and porn.
The way I see it is this: Erik has every right to protect himself with the use of his magic helmet. There have been discussions saying that him putting on the helmet and thereby blocking out Charles was the cause of the Epic Breakup and that everything is Erik’s fault. Which, to a point, I suppose it was. But I certainly don’t think Erik’s actions were unjustified or that Charles didn’t cause his fair share of problems.
So, let’s talk about Charles’s background before I get into Erik’s. Charles was born with a mutation that potentially allows him to do almost anything. He can manipulate everyone around him, he can literally shut down a person’s entire existence, if he wanted. I would never suggest that he WOULD, because anyone who’s paying attention to Charles’s character knows that he wouldn’t. But he COULD and that’s important. I know that this movie, and the original movies, push the Mutant And Proud logic, and of course I agree. These people shouldn’t have to hide and they shouldn’t have to register themselves and they shouldn’t have to be ashamed. But the fact of the matter is, of course humans are going to be afraid of them. Especially Charles. They don’t know him, they don’t know his motives or his reasoning, but they know what he can do, and of course that would terrify a person.
Charles’s mutation is literally one of the most frightening mutations to humans, and with good reason. He has the ability to basically take over the world and do whatever he wants. He’s grown up proud of his mutation, proud of what he can do and wanting to learn more. He’s always had support from Raven and been able to use his gifts publicly whether people know it or not. There’s a LOT of talk about Charles and his morals and how he would never read a person’s mind without their permission, but unless we’re referring to the Satellite Dish of UST, this isn’t ever seen. The first time we see grown up Charles, he’s reading a girl’s mind to find out her drink order and immediately give himself an advantage. Then, he reads Moira’s mind to access her knowledge of other mutants before she gives anything remotely resembling permission. He freezes her colleague and talks in her head, presumably with access to her mind, again without permission. And then, the first time he meets Erik, the first thing he does is read his mind. He finds out his name, and by the “I know what this means to you” quote, we can assume he’s read enough to know about Shaw and Erik’s history. Then we go further into even more morally awkward areas like when they're being taken to the ~X Facility~ or whatever. There's the CIA guy, I forget his name but he's played by the guy who plays Oliver Babish in West Wing, so I'm calling him Oliver. ANYWAY, Oliver is all super impressed with Charles's mutation and is all I LOVE MUTANTS, but as soon as he tells them he can't take them off site, Charles again uses his mutation to LITERALLY MAKE THE GUY GET IN THE CAR. It's meant for a bit of comedy, and sure, it's light-hearted fun, but when you think about it, Charles is using his abilities to take away someone's free will. This is more than an invasion of privacy now, this is Charles using his powers without thinking of what someone else might want. It's not a "magic trick", it's complete and utter manipulation of a person.
What I’m getting at here is that Charles may have all these ideals about the preservation of privacy (or so fandom and fic likes to assume) but when it comes down to it, he doesn’t hesitate before he uses his mutation to his advantage. No one has ever stopped him or told him not to, except, apparently, for Raven, which is a whole other bag of potatoes that I can’t get into right now or I’ll never stop.
NOW WE CAN TALK ABOUT ERIK. At his roots, Erik is a holocaust survivor and further than that, was blatantly used by Shaw for experimentation and abuse of his powers. Straight off the bat, Erik’s been dealing with mistrust, with people taking advantage of him, with people using him to their own ends, with people invading his privacy and his basic human rights. For a long time, this is all Erik knows. As an adult, his primary goal is revenge. He’s spent his life refusing to let anyone get close to him - and I’m using movie canon here guys, not the comics, so I’m not getting into Magda. So movie canon basically suggests Erik has spent years hunting down Shaw and nazi killing and generally being a bamf to James Bond music. He’s never had to let anyone in, he’s never learned to trust, he’s never learned friendship.
Then, Charles dives into the ocean, hugs him, reads his mind, and tells him he’s not alone. Already, we’re looking at things that could quite possibly be overwhelming for someone in Erik’s situation. He’s gone from an incredibly private man who’s never had anyone to confide in, to someone coming in and reading his mind and his most private thoughts within seconds of meeting him.
At this point, I commend Erik rather than condemning him. In my opinion, he deals with all of this incredibly well. There’s nothing to say he trusts Charles implicitly, but he decides to stay without knowing much about Charles or his CIA mission, and he does so knowing what Charles can do, and knowing that Charles has already read his mind. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that he already starts to latch on to Charles as someone he thinks he can trust, someone he thinks he could be friends with. Which is LEAPS AND BOUNDS for him, people, come on! This is Erik Lensherr, King of Brooding, and he’s letting a little British telepath get into his head.
Now, we spend roughly two hours watching Erik and Charles become BFFs, Brothers in Arms and/or Big Gay Lovers, depending on your views. Even apart from Charles, Erik does his best to let the children in, teach them, train them, respect them. This is all through a skewed view of Mutants Over Humans, I suppose you could argue, but at the same time it’s not like he’s kicking Moira out of the house. There’s nothing to suggest anything other than civility between him and Moira, so it’s not entirely a Mutant VS the World view YET.
And then we can get down to the crunch: Erik finds the man he’s spent his whole life looking for, acquires a nifty helmet, and kills him. Like I said, it’s been suggested that this means Erik doesn’t trust Charles and that Erik betrayed him. Which I just can’t get behind. Like I’ve said, when it comes to Charles, who’s to say you could ever 100% guarantee that your choices are your own. Anyone would be on edge around him, no matter how groovy he is. To say that Erik doesn’t trust Charles at all is ridiculous to me, because he spends an entire movie sans helmet, trusting Charles not to do anything he shouldn’t, and going as far as letting Charles into his head to access his most private memories. If he didn’t trust Charles, knowing Erik’s background and his personality, he would NEVER have allowed that.
When it comes down to it, they haven’t known each other very long. I’m not entirely sure how long the movie is supposed to span, but it can’t be more than a couple of months, tops. In just a short while, Erik is apparently supposed to lose years of wariness and mistrust for other people because of all things, a TELEPATH shows up. It’s just unrealistic. Erik’s not going to abandon a lifetime of ideals in a minute because Charles has pretty blue eyes. Erik is flawed to all hell, yes, but that doesn’t mean he should be blamed for everything ever. Finally, he has a shot at killing the man who Erik sees as having ruined his life. His entire life has led up to this moment, and while I don’t agree with it, and the rest of the audience may not agree with it, this is what Erik wants. Because he is a well written character with flaws, just like Charles.
I think he has every right to put the helmet on. I think, no matter how much he trusts Charles, this is something that’s incredibly important to him, this is something that’s shaped his entire life, and Charles has a Really Powerful Mutation. Erik already knows Charles doesn’t want him to do it, and while my head canon is that Charles would let him regardless of the helmet, Erik doesn’t know that. The helmet is his way of establishing control, of giving himself a choice for the first time in his life. I’m not saying he HAD to kill Shaw or that he has no choices in life ever because of course he does. But again, this is Erik Lensherr, and that’s how he sees it. The helmet is about taking control of his life again, taking all of these things that he had no control over and shutting them down. It’s about making his own choices, deciding his own fate. And I apologise, but Charles has no right to tell him no. Charles has never been told no. Erik has been told no again, and again, and again.
It’s not about Erik not trusting Charles, and Erik isn’t 100% to blame for everything that happened on Breakup Beach. They both have flaws and neither of them do or say the right thing all of the time. Their entire relationship is a huge fucking tragedy because neither of them are perfect and they both make mistakes and unfortunately, when you’re mutants trying to save the world, their mistakes have pretty huge consequences.
I promise I’m done now, you may return to your regularly scheduled capslock and porn.